Jessica Bauer

Carey Perkins
Eng101
4/1/24 Bauer 1

TikTok and the Harm it Cause Adolescents

TikTok is a form of social media where anyone can log onto the app and watch videos of

every genre, from comedy to drama, and even how to bake a cake. But not all people know that

this social media app is not recommended for adolescents under the age of 18. If you are thirteen

or younger you can sign up by putting in your date of birth, but you are limited to what you can

view. Mature content is removed, your account will be switched to private, and you are not

allowed to send or receive messages or videos. Even with all the restrictions and safeguards

TikTok has put into place for adolescents, we are still finding out that certain videos are affecting

our eighteen and under population. How can this be possible with so many security measures put

in place for adolescents? Are they figuring out how to bypass the age verification? Are parents

not linking to their children's accounts and blocking mature content and reviewing their video

history? While most people find TikTok can be fun and entertaining and sometimes educational,

evidence shows certain TikTok videos should not be viewed by adolescents under the age of

eighteen. During adolescence, ages 10-19, the prefrontal cortex (Located in the front of the

brain) is still underdeveloped, and its job is to control one’s ability to assess risk or handle

irrational thoughts. Videos such as challenges, beauty and even certain dance videos can cause

negative effects on adolescents that lead to harm and even sometimes death.
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One of TikTok’s most popular social media videos is called Challenges. A challenge is

when a creator videos themselves doing something challenging or even impossible, all to upload

it to TikTok and dare others to video themselves trying to recreate the challenge. While not all

TikTok’s challenges are bad, for example, dance challenges, corn on the cob eating challenge are

only three of several challenges on TikTok. Even trying these challenges can be fun and help

adolescents interact with each other on social media. But not all challenges are like the ones I

listed, some challenges like the “Blackout” challenge, where the individual attempting the

challenge must hold his or her breath until they pass out are one of several TikTok challenges

that might cause harm to the participant. Just the name of this challenge alone would make most

people pause and think twice before even attempting a challenge like this, but that is not always

the case. Adolescents under eighteen who do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex cannot

assess the risk involved with these types of challenges. Pamela Rutledge PH. D once verified this

in her article “Why Kids Love TikTok Challenges” posted on the website Psychology Today,

“The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that handles rational thought, the ability to engage

in long-range planning and assess risk. It is also not fully developed until our mid-twenties. This

is why teens tend to be more reactive, impulsive, and act before thinking, particularly when

social influence is involved.” Most of us who have children understand the appeal of social

media and the influence it has on our children, and we as parents also know how illogical our

children can think when it comes to being liked and popular with their peers. Having access to

these types of challenges put them at risk, and in December of 2022 a total of twenty deaths

linked with the “Blackout” challenge were reported on the online newspaper called the

“Independent.” Even one death is a lot but twenty is overwhelming, and most of all the victims

were under 15 years of age”(Sarkar).

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TikTok challenges are not the only types of videos affecting today’s youth. They also

have creators making unattainable beauty standards, along with beauty blogs to sell products.

How can watching videos of women putting on their makeup be harmful to adolescents? Most

would think this would be a good thing instead of a bad thing. Knowing absolutely nothing about

doing makeup and watching someone who spends most of their time on social media teaching

people like me how to contour and what best foundation matches your complexion can be a life

saver. For someone who has been around for a while who can tell the difference between a

creator who is truly trying to help women and a creator who uses filters or other special effects to

make themselves look perfect to get likes or sell their products. After reading the article “Body

Image” on ScienceDirect they have learned that even just watching short videos biased on beauty

or the body can lead to negative moods and self-objection in adolescence. Unrealistic depiction

of physical appearance can influence how some adolescents see themselves, especially if the

videos are thought to be unedited and real-life reflections. These types of videos can lead kids

and teens down a very dark road full of self-loathing, self-esteem issues and “in worst cases

suicide”. Being a teenager is hard enough going through all the changes that came with

adolescence, all the pressure you put on yourself to fit in and look a certain way, so you are not

bullied. Just imagine how kids nowadays feel watching videos on TikTok from creators who do

not care how much harm their flawless filtered faces are causing, knowing how impossible it is

to recreate a look that is nothing but lies.

The last genre of TikTok videos are the dance videos. Some of the videos on TikTok

show people dancing in a mature manner that most parents would not like to see their adolescent

child repeat. Dancing is a fun way to be creative and release energy, but many of these dance

videos are demonstrating moves that might be too mature for certain kids under eighteen. Per an
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article Jaclyn Halpern Psy.D wrote, she mentions, “It is reasonable to conclude that some of the

content on TikTok, including some of the dances, may lead to oversexualization of young

people’s bodies. Oversexualization of children by the media in general is a long-standing

concern, particularly for females”. It is hard to explain to anyone between 10-19 that dance

moves seen on TikTok might not be appropriate to show out in public or at school, especially

since more kids will say, “Well so and so is doing it, why can’t I?”

Now there are a lot of people out there who would disagree with me. One of those people

is Abbie Richards, an independent misinformation researcher who specializes in TikTok. An

article written by Palmer Hassan and Kieran Press-Reynonds, says that “ many adults just do not

understand TikTok and its culture. This creates an "alarm zone" and makes the app, which was

founded in 2016, "a great boogeyman" for parents to place blame on. Instead of adults ``doing

the actual work of understanding" TikTok, Richards said, "it's much easier to say, 'This is scary

and hides your kids.” What is scary is how easy it is for kids to find and view these videos even

after all the parental controls are in place. It is not a matter of understanding a certain culture or

using TikTok as a scapegoat for parents to place blame on. It's the fact that after all these years

across the world and many different types of cultures and beliefs, TikTok knows children under

18 have access to these videos because they allow them to have an account with or without a

parent. They have seen the news and read the articles about what has happened to adolescents as

a result of certain videos, and yet they have made no attempt to resolve this issue.

In conclusion to everything you read, you can form your own opinion on Tiktok and

some of the video’s adolescents are getting ahold of, that are causing them harm. I know other
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social media platforms like Youtube have alternative platforms like Youtube Kids that are

strictly just for kids under eighteen. Even though TikTok has parental controls and asks for your

age when you sign up, kids are still gaining access to the Challenge videos, beauty videos and

Dance videos that are causing more harm than good.

Word Cited
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Haasch, Palmer, and Kieran Press-Reynolds. “Stop Blaming TikTok for All the Stupid Things
Teens Do.” Business Insider, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.businessinsider.com/slap-a-teacher-
challenge-stop-blaming-tiktok-teens2021-11.

Kuntz, Leah, and Jaclyn Halpern. “Concerning Content: TikTok’s Effect on Child and

Adolescent Mental Health.” Psychiatric Times, 11 Mar. 2022,

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/concerning-content-tiktoks-effect-on-child-and-

adolescent-mental-health.

Sarkar, Alisha Rahaman. “TikTok’s ‘blackout’ Challenge Linked to Deaths of 20 Children in 18

Months, Report Says.” The Independent, 1 Dec. 2022,

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/tiktok-blackout-challenge-deaths-b2236669.html.

Staloch, Laura. “Exposure to Beauty-Focused TikTok Videos Leads to Appearance Shame and

Anxiety among Young Women, Study Finds.” PsyPost, 4 July 2023,

https://www.psypost.org/exposure-to-beauty-focused-tiktok-videos-leads-to-appearance-shame-

and-anxiety-among-young-women-study-finds/.

“Why Kids Love TikTok Challenges.” Psychology Today,

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-media/202102/why-kids-love-tiktok-

challenges. Accessed 11 Apr. 2024.